In what is being viewed as a landmark victory for Hindu Americans, the Governor of California Gavin Newsom vetoed the controversial Anti-Caste Discrimination Bill SB403 that had been passed by the California State Assembly. Many Hindu American organizations had launched massive advocacy campaigns to urge the Governor of California to send this Bill back as it singled out Hindus, a minority community in the US when there already existed provisions in the US Constitution covering all sorts of discrimination, and the sole evidence of caste discrimination that existed in the American context was the widely cited CISCO case that has been dismissed due to lack of evidence.
The California Governor vetoed the Bill on the grounds that it was unnecessary and that “California already prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and state law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed”.
The vetoing of the bill by the Governor of California comes at a time when Hindus in the west are being increasingly targeted for their faith. In the name of combating caste discrimination, lobbies representing vested interests in the US are launching a slew of so-called anti-caste discrimination bills calling for caste profiling of Hindu Americans and pitting them against one another in the name of caste, when there is ample evidence to point out that many Indian Americans don’t even know what caste they belong to. Hindu temples are being attacked and vandalized in the US, Canada, and Europe. Hate crimes against the Hindus have seen a sharp rise in western countries. In such a scenario, there is a lobby that seeks to demonize Hindus and portray them as perpetrators instead of redressing their grievances and taking measures to ensure their safety. In that sense, the vetoing of SB403 is a victory for Hindus across the world. In fact, it is a strong statement against the legitimization of Hinduphobia and Hindu hatred.
The Dalit and the Bahujan community of the US have played a pivotal role in the fight against the California Anti-Caste Discrimination Bill. Aldrin Deepak, Tech Worker, Coalition of Hindus of North America Steering Committee Leader, and Dalit Activist says, “As a long-time San Fransisco resident and a proud Hindu American, I am really thankful for the action taken by Governor Newsome to veto SB403. I joined CoHNA and this fight because I was horrified at how hate groups like Equality Labs have tried to co-opt my identity and weaponize it against Hindu dharma itself. As a Dalit myself, I reject the attempts from Equality Labs to speak for me or my community, which they do by silencing folks like me and trying to profile us on subjective criteria like last names, dietary preferences, skin colour, and more”.
According to various organizations campaigning against the California Anti-Caste Discrimination Bill, the mainstream media in the US is biased in its portrayal of issues concerning Hindus, and it chooses to conveniently ignore the Dalit and Bahujan voices that oppose the Hinduphobic Bill.
We spoke to Richa Gautam who is the Founder and Policy Director at Castefiles, an advocacy think tank. She has been closely involved in the campaign against SB403; Richa elaborated on the obstacles faced by various organizations while raising their voice against the Bill. “Main obstacles were media was biased and controlled and they would not listen to our side – even if Dalit Americans spoke – only their spokespersons were quoted while those against the Bill were silenced”, she says.
The mainstream media both in the US and India creates this perception that the Dalit community of the US was staunchly in favor of the California Anti-Caste Discrimination Bill. If you read news reports coming out on this issue from mainstream Indian publications, most of the Dalit sources they quote can be seen speaking in favor of the Bill. But the ground reality is different, according to Hindu American organizations like CoHNA and the advocacy group Castefiles.
Milind Makwana, a member of the Dalit Bahujan community passed away outside the Cupertino City Council in California after a long and arduous struggle against the California Anti-Caste Discrimination Bill. “Dalit Americans against SB403 faced discrimination in mainstream media and were not allowed to speak up. They played a very important role in educating lawmakers and shared their proud heritage which is not what the fake definitions by Equality Labs but of much richer history”, as Richa Gautam puts it”.
It’s strange that voices of all communities carry a certain degree of legitimacy when it comes to issues impacting them, but Hindus are “barred” from speaking for their own issues. If there is an issue impacting Muslims or Christians, it’s normal to have spokespersons of Islamic or Christian organizations sharing their viewpoint, and their viewpoint is widely promoted by the mainstream media. But in the case of Hindus, the viewpoint of organizations representing their interests is branded as “Hindutva propaganda”. Perhaps that explains the discrediting of Dalit voices being highlighted by the organizations representing Hindu interests in the US.
As the Ambedkar Phule Network of American Dalits and Bahujans puts it, “While we welcome the vetoSB403 by honorable Gavin Newsom, we are deeply pained with the apathy of most of California’s senators and assembly members. Irrespective of our countless requests, they unfortunately hardly bothered to hear us. Our gratitude to countless marginalized families, children, and elderly alike, who stood up for Social Justice, irrespective of struggles and threats to their well-being. This is only one step towards justice through our struggle”.
